Christopher Schuchardt, a 33-year-old businessman with no prior political experience, is self-funding a challenge to Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
Schuchardt owns the trucking company Calidad LLC, which he started at age 26. He told the San Antonio Report on Thursday that he made a last-minute decision to run for mayor after hearing an employee joke about the number of gunshots he heard while playing in the backyard with his children.
“I feel the main three things that council [and] the mayor have a mandate over is making sure we have safe streets and neighborhoods, making sure our infrastructure is maintained and making sure that our local economic climate is one that encourages real growth for the population that we already have here, instead of trying to create jobs for people that we hope will move here,” Schuchardt said.
Nirenberg was reelected with 62% of the vote in 2021, avoiding a runoff with two-time challenger Greg Brockhouse. He’s campaigning for a fourth and final term, and has made public safety a top theme, including opposing Prop A over its changes to cite-and-release.
Though eight candidates filed to run against Nirenberg, most have raised little money, and he avoided a challenge from colleagues who are eyeing the open seat in 2025.
Nirenberg raised roughly $200,000 between Jan. 1 and March 27 and spent $220,000, according to his campaign finance report. He had about $320,000 on hand as of March 27.
Nirenberg’s campaign declined to comment for the story.
Schuchardt, who has campaign signs posted throughout the city, loaned his campaign $150,000, according to a campaign finance report covering Jan. 1 through March 27.
He’s spent roughly $30,000 on signs and political consulting, and plans to spend the rest on mail and digital ads in the final weeks before the May 6 municipal election, he said Thursday.
“I figure people have a short attention span when it comes to these off-cycle mayoral races,” he said of the 11th-hour approach.
A San Antonio native, Schuchardt attended Antonian College Preparatory High School and received a degree in maritime business administration from Texas A&M University.
He started his career as a credit equities analyst at Frost Bank, then worked as a controller for an oil field service company that hauled pipes.
“I was the last guy to leave the company when oil dropped in 2014, so I ended up starting my own business,” Schuchardt said.
Schuchardt said between his various trucking and materials companies he now has roughly 55 employees and the companies gross more than $10 million per year.
“Being in my business and being in construction, especially in this town, it’s not a cakewalk,” said Schuchardt. “I’ve been in business for eight years; not many people last past three or four.”
“I figured having that real world experience might be something that City Hall could benefit from an injection of,” he said.
Schuchardt lives in Castle Hills Forest with his wife, Megan, and their son Christopher.
Aside from Republican clubs, he said he’s also meeting with neighborhood associations across the city.
“There’s enough stuff we can fight about at the state and federal level on a partisan basis, but I feel that things that we should all be united around here at home are the things that are being neglected,” he said.
